a lot of hours?

[riglos]

Hi people!

Although this sentence sounds rather awkward to me, I'd like to know whether it is usually stated in this way or not:

We used to spend a lot of hours in the park, playing with a ball.

I think it is grammatically correct, but is it frequently written or spoken in this way?

What about: "We used to spend many hours in the park, playing with a ball"?

Thanks a lot!

Mara.

[fluffyhamster]

I'd be inclined to use something like '...a lot of time...'. If 'many' enters into it, perhaps something like '...many (happy) afternoons...'. (Is that the author in me trying to escape again?!).